My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 269

Episode Date: March 7, 2022

This week’s hometowns include an aunt who enjoys her alcohol and clown parents. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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And welcome to my favorite murder, the mini-soad. That's right. We're, uh, we're reading your stuff back to you. We're on video. We have makeup on. If you want to go to the fan cult and watch this happen. Oh my God. We have makeup caked onto our face.

It's insane. It's really scary. It's piled. It's piled. I got eyeliner on, which means it's a special occasion. Can I tell you a salon secret that I just used on myself? Yeah. I finally cracked the nut of, I can't ever put eyeliner on the bottom because it immediately

starts running down my face, which I think is a plus to have greasy eyes overall in the long run, but in the short term bad. I put the eyebrow pencil Anastasia of Beverly Hills on my lower lash line. That's always the second you look very sexy right now. Oh, thank you. I always do that. And I'm like, why don't I always do that? And then I don't do it again for years.

It's kind of, well, we'll see how badly it runs. And I was, as I was putting on, I was like, this is the amount of color I need. It's the dryness I need. Yeah. How about a dry liner? Dry liner. Dry liner. Dry liner.

Dry liner. T.M. For the greasy eyed people. Yeah. Of America. Promo code murder. Yeah. That's going to be in our makeup line.

Dry liner. Dry liner. Riff your skin on your eye. You have too much moisture. That's a real problem these days, you're using too many dewy serums. Oh, are you too dewy and 22 years old? You're really young and you've never ruined your skin a couple of times. Dry liner.

Dry liner. It gives you the creepy wrinkles you want up by the eye. That's right. All right, should we start this thing? Why not? I have to read off my computer, unfortunately, because printers fucking suck. You need me to go first? Go ahead.

Okay. Go. Sure. Why not? Okay, that's what you want. That's fine. Well, okay, let's start with this subject line, armed police, drug dealers and two kids left home alone, Glasgow edition.

Yep. Here we go. Hello from Bonnie Glasgow. My brother introduced me to your podcast in 2016 and we have been obsessed with you both ever since. We especially love whenever Karen talks about her time in Glasgow and laugh at her accurate description of excessive number of hairdressers and the scantily dressed girls on nights out.

Thank you for everything you do and for bringing me comfort during very difficult periods of my life. I now actively make my mental health a priority and I have you to thank for that. Oh my God, that's my favorite. It's pretty nice. Yeah. Your honest conversations about your own struggles have made it easier for me to deal with my anxiety and depression over the last few years.

Hey. Hey. And all caps. Anyway, we love you and can't wait to see you again at another live show sometime soon. Remember that fucking Glasgow live show? Oh my God. That was epic. It was just.

It was the closest to like a rock show I think we ever got. Yeah. Yeah. That thing was fucking nuts. Okay. When I was around 12 years old, I was left home alone with my 10 year old brother whilst my mom was away on a well earned spa break. And then in parentheses, it says single mom, three kids studying to become a teacher equals

no alone time. My older brother, Johnny, 17 years old was in charge of looking after us and decided to go to the shops to get something for dinner. The shop was less than a 10 minute walk away. But of course, as these stories always go, all hell broke loose just five minutes after he left. I was minding my own business in my bedroom whilst my younger brother was playing video games next door, shouting about loads of men with guns.

I obviously irritated by him, ignored him and went back to my computer, leaving him to play his stupid game. He continued to shout on me. Is that a Scottish way to say it? Okay. He continued to shout on me. I like it. Stop shouting on me all the time.

He continued to shout on me and I continued to ignore him until he shouted all caps. There are men with guns outside. I shit you not. When I ran into his room and looked out his window, there was a full team of armed police officers outside of our house. Panicked and scared, I turned off all the lights upstairs and moved us into my mom's bedroom for a better view of the armed officers who were surrounding the house. I ran into my room to get my phone and saw there were police in our back garden with

a police helicopter shining right into my bedroom. I ducked down, grabbed my phone and army crawled back into my mom's bedroom. She's immediately taking the position of the criminal. By this point, I was convinced the police were going to break down our door, looking for either my older brother who had suspiciously left or my mom again suspiciously away for the weekend. Walt's my brother, so everyone's gone under the bus on this one. Once my brother peered out the window, I began calling any and every adult on my phone for

some much needed assistance. My older brother could not believe what he was hearing on the phone as he had only been gone for 15 minutes. He said he'd be home soon and to stay in mom's bedroom. As we looked out the window, we saw the police move closer to our next door neighbor's house and shouted for everyone to come out with their hands up. My auntie then called me to say she was on her way. I guess Johnny had realized this situation required a real adult and thankfully called

for backup. But when she arrived, the police prevented her from coming into our cul-de-sac because the suspects had not left the house, despite her informing them that there were two children home alone in the house next door. After a painstakingly long 10 minutes, our neighbors left the house with their hands up and my aunt was allowed to finally come and take us away. Fair to say that upon hearing this story, this poor fucking single mother, seriously, whose foot just hit the bathtub with the essential oils, fair to say that upon hearing this story,

my mom put a pause on going on any more child-free breaks for a few years and scolded my brother for leaving us alone. He was trying to get him dinner. Seriously. Turns out that some masked men had stormed into my neighbor's house and dragged him outside with a gun to his head and his wife managed to call the police and the armed officers arrived shortly after. I was interviewed by the police and asked to attend a lineup to identify some men I'd

seen talking to my neighbor earlier that day. My god. Right? Suspicious looking guys dressed in all black on a very rare hot summer day. However, my mom put a stop to that as our next door neighbors were known drug dealers and you do not want to get on the wrong side of a Ouija and then in parentheses it says Glaswegian drug dealer, especially one that knows where you live. Oh, Jesus.

Yeah, for people. Mom is smart. She's like snitches get, don't get candy. Yeah, no way. We didn't ask any questions and kept to ourselves so we weren't sure how the investigation panned out. But not long after, our neighbors moved away and the whole street breathed a sigh of relief. Stay sexy and listen to your younger brother sometimes.

Taylor. Oh my god. Yeah. Well, the first person swat like situation when you're a child alone and what you can't call the cops because it is the cops. They're there like you have to be like, oh, this, this I'm safe. You know what? I feel really safe right now.

I have a next door neighbor one too. Oh, wonderful. Yeah. This is called undercover meth snake. Oh, dear best friends starts. I spent a good part of my childhood in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego. There was an older couple next door whose adult son lived with them. I think his name was Paul, but who remembers anything at 43?

Paul kept pit bulls in an outdoor chain link run and would often taunt them into fighting each other and biting at the fence. And then all caps. It says animal cruelty red flag. Yeah. He also had a girlfriend and a series of friends coming in and out at all hours, including one big tattooed dude who always wore some kind of giant snake. And then it says real and alive around his shoulders like a scarf.

I was too chicken to be a murdering at the time, but as a lifelong lookie-loo, I spent many happy and a little scary hours spying on them all through the mini blinds in my bedroom. How entertaining, right? Yeah. I mean, that's way better than TV. Absolutely. Real.

I was awakened by agitated pounding on the door followed by men's voices yelling, get out now. There's a bomb next door. It was the police clearing out the surrounding houses because surprise, some shady shit had been going on in that house and it all had come to a head. A thrilling turn for a nine year old. We got to walk a few blocks to our friend's house in the middle of the night and have an impromptu sleepover.

Very cool. Yes. Yeah. The best. The next day we found out exactly what had happened. Paul and his girlfriend had been running a meth lab in the attic of his poor parents' house and terrorizing them into keeping quiet about it. There had indeed been a pipe bomb in the house, ostensibly put there by a disgruntled buyer

or rival. And then it says, I'm making that up. They didn't tell us why. The bomb squad had to come in and send dudes in the full suit to deactivate the bomb. The best part of the story is that it turns out that the snake scarf dude was an undercover cop. Hey, Larry, you know what would make you look really cool and mad as? Never suspect a thing.

Snake scarf. Snake scarf. Snake scarf dude was an undercover cop and had infiltrated the operation in order to bust it from the inside. Paul went to jail and we built a very tall fence between their house and ours. I wish I could tell you what happened to those dogs, but I hope they were sent to a happier home. I love your podcast and it makes me wish I had my own.

And also to quote Georgia, and I'd like to say this is not my quote at all. I did not make this up. If your brain can't make its own chemicals, store bought is fine. I read that on the internet and I said it to any friends who may be feeling iffy about medicating. Love you both to pieces. Stay sexy and don't just count the guy wearing a snake, Amanda. I love it.

I mean, that was like a, wait, what area was it? Was it San Diego? Yeah. That's very San Diego to have like secret meth lab undercover cop. San Diego is so weird because there's like really high end areas and then there's really not those in other areas. Cause the desert is so nearby and we all know that bad things happen in the desert. They fucking do.

The subject line of this email is this is your reminder to be nice to the garbage man. Good morning, evening or night to two of my most unknowingly loyal friends. I want to start by thanking you both. I found you guys after a breakup that made me lose a lot of my reasons for living and I want you to know that you guys in Elvis saved me and I have been listening ritualistically every week for the past five years now. Thank you for your ally ship with the trans community. I cannot explain how many tears were shed when you donated to both trans lives and to

Texas where I live back to back, almost like you know of my existence and something about that really brought me peace. Thank you. It's so nice. Now for the real reason I'm reaching out. My dad was a garbage man and was one of for the entire time he was in my life up until he passed away when I was four. I don't have many memories of him but throughout the years my mom has dropped some quote, are

you messing with me right now? How did you manage to let me live my life without knowing that stories about my dad? Like how he smuggled immigrants across the border in his two-seater Jeep back in the 90s or how one of the main suspects in a murder worked for him. But there was one story my mom dropped on me that just sat with me different and here it is. When my mom and dad had gotten married they were living in a small place in Dallas and my dad was running on a crazy work schedule that had him up and out of the house by three

every morning to go start his garbage routes. Well on this random mass Tuesday my dad was driving along the highway not a solo in sight other than a singular car far ahead of him in the distance. All of a sudden out of the darkness of the early morning he watched that one car as it ran straight into the center median. My dad immediately called 911 though as he approached closer to the accident he knew if he simply chose to drive away not helping these people and chalk it up to hope that there was a higher chance of them dying than getting help there in time to save them.

So my dad pulled up next to the accident still not another solo in sight. He hopped out of the garbage truck went around to the driver's side where he found a young couple sitting in the car. The guy was conscious and he was clearly hysterical. Dad cut his seatbelt and pulled him out immediately smelling gas. He then rushed around to the other side where he saw the unconscious girl sitting. He cut her seatbelt and with zero hesitation yanked her out of that car just about two or three seconds before the car caught fire and went up in flames.

I don't know if they shared any remarks with one another other than a profuse thank you but I don't think my dad needed that. He went home and only told my mom the next day when the story appeared in the newspaper simply mentioning quote an unknown garbage man that saved the day. I don't think my dad realized in that moment that he had just saved the lives of two people and I think that's the reason this story was so impactful for me. He was a hero and he didn't even mean to be. I know the story is a bit long but I do feel like it's a story worth reading about a man

that deserves to be known. So if you have ended up reading this please stay sexy and always remember to be kind to the garbage men. They might end up being the one that saved your life one day. Massively inspired fan from Texas is how they sign it. I mean that email has everything. We always talk about this before but like sanitation workers must have the craziest stories. Oh yes because it's a it's in the middle of the night job or early early morning when weird

things happen and no one's around no one's ever probably around when they're working and the ship people throw away has to be like mind boggling and real if you are even slightly interested in you know all things macabre as we are you every single I would be obsessed yeah yes there's others I read a story recently it's I think it's in another country but some sanitation workers every time books would be thrown away they take them out and they started a library of like tossed out books amazing is that I love it it's beautiful this one's long as well from celebrated student to wanted fugitive dear lovely humans and pets of MFM this email has it all if by all you mean a bank robbery murder women breaking

the crime glass ceiling and an extremely loose personal connection to the story yeah that's what we mean every time that's all my mom attended her freshman year of college at Brandeis University they say that right yes you did located just outside of Boston in 1969 during this year she attended an event welcoming incoming freshman where she recalls an older student gave a speech typically seeing a stranger give a speech like this might not be very memorable but around a year later my mom would go on to recognize this student on the news as she was added to the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitive list wow right turn Catherine and power essentially began her radical trajectory as a college student attending protests against the Vietnam War

and ultimately becoming part of a plot to overthrow the federal government power along with her college roommate Susan Edith sacks were part of a group who robbed a National Guard armory in Boston on September 20th 1970 where they stole 400 rounds of ammunition and weapons before setting fire to the building what wait you're gonna rob like the basically the army that's how's that your plan yeah well anyway go ahead three days later on September 23rd the group robbed a bank and left with 26 grand and then they wrote according to Google roughly 186,000 today thank you for doing that and shot the first policeman who came on the scene officer Walter Schroederer who ultimately died from his injuries my mom

recalls that the president of Brandeis University expressed his guilt and condolences that students have been involved in the crime and offered free tuition to the children of the fallen officer whoa I know the other members of the group including the one who pulled the trigger were captured swiftly but both power and sacks went on the lamb and then earned their status on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list power was ultimately taken off the list by the FBI in 1984 due to a lack of new information regarding her whereabouts until she surrendered herself in 1993 yeah here's a final fun fact power and sacks are two of the only 10 women who have ever appeared on this list and they are two out of three women on the list who

attended Brandeis University and says Angela Davis attended Brandeis as well I'm not trying to say my cousin Jill very talented I'm not trying to suggest anything about Brandeis University and its potential for shaping the minds of future fugitives but I just love a good piece of trivia stay sexy and be wary of those who give speeches to incoming freshmen Cainan she or her that is really hilarious I would love for some data crunching specialist to be able to drill down and tell us why the female graduates of Brandeis feel the need to break the law and go on the lamb maybe it's really an empowering place for women you know I mean it probably is I know that it's like there's at least my cousin went

there and studied like drama and the arts and stuff like a lot of movement classes and she come back and and be like Uncle Jim she said something about I couldn't do my movement class because I had my period my dad's like oh Jesus and she's like listen up Uncle Jim she was like a total like drama student I loved my cousin Jill she was a legend she was a legend so you know I could see her doing that just being like look this isn't right we got to do something yeah we got to rob the armory we got to rob the thing that's built like a jail for bullets the word armory like is so like don't do it the people looking out for you the burglar have all of the bullets right don't do that right okay then we're

gonna rob a gun a knife festival okay looking for a better cooking routine with meal planning shopping and prepping handled hello fresh has you covered hello fresh makes home cooking easy and affordable so you can stay on track and on budget in the new year hello fresh meals are convenient seasonal and delicious stay cozy all winter long with classic comfort foods available weekly why stop which is dinner now you can enjoy hello fresh's expanded menu of quick lunch solutions weekend brunch simple side dishes and amazing desserts Karen January is gonna be my month for hello fresh I am so sick of takeout I miss cooking so much I haven't lifted a knife or a pan since like early fall so I can't wait to get back in

the kitchen and hello fresh makes it so easy and also makes it so that my food tastes good which is hard to do on my own it gives you everything everything you need so get up to 20 free meals with purchase plus free shipping on your first box at hello fresh.ca slash murder 20 with code murder 20 that's up to 20 free meals plus free shipping on your first box when you go to hello fresh.ca slash murder 20 and use code murder 20 goodbye what makes a person a murderer are they born to kill or are they made to kill I'm Candace DeLong and on my new podcast killer psyche daily I share a quick 10 minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds psychopaths and cold-blooded killers

you hear about in the news I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse FBI agent and criminal profiler on killer psyche daily I'll give you insight into cases like Ryan Grantham and the newly arrested Stockton serial killer I'll also bring on expert guests to dive deeper into the details share what it's like to work with a behavioral assessment unit at Quantico answer some killer trivia and even host virtual Q&As where I'll answer your burning questions hey prime members listen to the Amazon music exclusive podcast killer psyche daily in the Amazon music app download the app today this last one just made me laugh this because it starts hello and then a parentheses in the voice of Mrs. Doubtfire and it also actually

is written in the voice of Ms. Doubtfire Ms. Doubtfire is Mrs. Doubtfire's older sister that's right who worked at a magazine big big fan and I was obsessed with the minisodes I listened to them with my mom while we puzzle oh maybe you need our puzzle of the map of the United States we have a puzzle with murders on it this story comes to you from my nannies and then a parentheses mom's mom's wake my nanny sadly died of cancer when I was in grade eight the whole funeral to me is a blur besides this one moment for backstory my nanny had four other brothers and sisters and their mom my great grandma had 12 other siblings so I have a huge ass family everyone was crammed in my grandpa's house the night was winding

down I was chilling with my brother and cousins we were all exhausted when I heard my aunt yell all caps someone stole my shoes now my aunt loved her alcohol that is such a drunk person thing to yell that is so classic do it again someone stole someone stole my shoes the thing is to go immediately to someone stole my thing that I can't find because I'm shit faced I'm shit faced that means I've been robbed that's right that's the only possibility now my aunt loved her alcohol at our family reunion a few years later she thought I was a nun since I had a blanket wrapped around my shoulder it was desk by the way hello sister welcome to family party it's me and Carol it's me we all knew she drank a lot that

day her sister-in-law had died we all indulged her claims by searching all the many shoes that were at the front door and then this is in parentheses and all caps and yes as Canadians we take off our shoes not like how you Americans wear them indoors no I do not fucking do that it's disgusting it's how the plague is spread Georgia 1000% is Canadian based in her shoe wearing lack of shoe wearing in nice that's right it's very important to her I never even thought about it before she told me about it really I swear to God how gross is it someone spits they have the plague you step in it you bring it in the house there you play you need a little bit of it now you're immune to the plague because that's how germs

are that's exactly how plagues work a lot better before COVID started by the way when I would say no my argument falls apart because of the pandemic that's right okay so we looked and looked but they were nowhere to be found we then found this pair of black shoes that looked similar to hers we said they must be hers she proceeded to yell these are issues by hell take them they're nicer than mine at this point everyone was laughing and we all were convinced that the shoes were hers but that she was too drunk to realize she then claimed that someone stole her coat she then proceeded to pull out a bottle opener from her pocket and said never mind oh my god what is happening look there's a it's a funeral

people get sad they over drink and under eat right every time right and then stuff like this happens near the end it turns out my great grandma ended up stealing her shoes I had taken them home earlier I think I don't know if it was accidentally or yeah they don't say they don't say we all owed my aunt an apology and at the next family Christmas party everyone put labels on their shoes you ladies rock I hope you enjoyed this hilarious family story my great grandma just turned 95 and is kicking ass and no longer stealing shoes say sexy and don't steal shoes at a funeral Jenna oh my god that was classic beautiful really beautiful just to snip it a family life well guess what I have a fucking funeral story

to what I know who does our now is in charge of gathering our hometowns must be doing it on purpose but maybe not a lot but I was also pulling from our last packet okay so this is just random this is psychic behavior that's right this is called clowns and funerals greetings and salutations one and all I grew up in the 90s best time to be alive and my parents had unusual jobs my dad after many years of working the overnight postal service finally had his dream profession of being a magician and a clown the kids from modern family writing it my mom did the same and they had their own entertainment business oh I know I remember having the best childhood and was the most popular kid in elementary school because of

my parents that that changes in junior high when you have parents this one particular story is about my mom one time she had a gig and was dressed head to toe in her clown attire she couldn't figure out the location back when directions had to be printed and figured she would stop for directions she passed a church and decided to stop to ask them thinking it would be the safest place to stop and it's as low risk of murder or mugging she was in her clown gear so that would be fucked up to mug a clown and then they pull out their money but it's all tied together and it's like a one big scarf she goes into the church and lo and behold she walks in on you guessed it a fucking funeral oh in full clown gear

my mom profusely apologized the one his husband had died laughed and said this would be exactly what he wanted they were nice enough to send my mom off with directions and although mortified she was able to find her way just burst through the door also cuz you know there's at least in Catholic churches there's a couple different ways you can go in but there is a door that's always on the side where you literally can walk into the front of the church oh my god so like she's on stage like he would have loved it and I bet they talk about it still like an entirely they must have been like that was fate or that was him with his final joke cuz the real proof is is in the the widow actually laughing only cuz that you no one

would just fake that for you on the day of their loved ones death I don't think she I'm really happy for all of them to stay sexy and think twice before stopping at a church to get directions in full clown gear yes my fucking array is going to therapy and getting help for my OCD this is a mental health issue that I had no idea about until I was 30 fucking years old I am happy to finally know what's going on to my brain and I'm not crazy and I don't have to feel shame also I did lock the door or did I anyway thanks for all you do to advocate for mental health shout out to my friend pookie for introducing me to this podcast okay okay love Sarah oh shit that was a great one it was that was a real

pick me up for the end that whole this whole episode was pretty fucking it was solid gold gold dancer and and then pookie made an appearance so God bless America always positive thing when pookie comes around you cannot beat it well thank you all for sending in your stories to us if you have one please send it to my favorite murder at gmail.com that's right do that thank you we appreciate it yeah and also stay sec and see that was perfect Elvis do you want to cookie this has been an exactly right production our senior producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton our producer is Alejandra Keck this episode was engineered and mixed by Steven Ray Morris our researchers are Jay Elias and Haley Gray email your hometowns and fucking

hurray is to my favorite murder at gmail.com follow the show and Instagram and Facebook at my favorite murder and Twitter at my fave murder listen subscribe and leave us a review on Amazon music Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts goodbye